Relative –

What if the Moon was only 7m wide and situated in Wakefield Market Hall?

How big would the earth be relative to this and where would it be?

Where in the world would Mars and Jupiter be?

Relative was commissioned by Wakefield Council’s Festival of the Moon, an 18-day celebration of arts and culture in Wakefield’s Market Hall centred around Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon – a 7m sculpture representing the moon.

When I calculated the sizes and locations of the planets in this rescaled solar system I asked people in those locations to send me a postcard of an object that matched the relevant size. For example, Saturn would be the size, and location, of the Acropolis in Athens.

Thanks to the kindness of strangers, postcards arrived along with photographs recreating the scale of the resized planets.

All the work sent in and created was brought together on a hand-drawn map of the world showing the object and its location.

(above photographs by Helen Thomas)

A selection of images is below.

Thanks to Mentiri Primary School

School Principal – Cikgu Sarimah Binti Hj Lusin

Maths Teacher – Cikgu Norhamizah Binti Haji Mohammad Yassin.

and Vikki Hird for coordinating it all and taking the photograph.

Thanks to Chris Griffiths and Sally Stenton for creating the circle and Chris Stenton as photographer